British Land sets up Paddington JV, LondonMetric purchases six London warehouses

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 131.8 points lower ahead of the bell on Monday after closing out the previous session 1.39% softer at 7,521.68.

Stocks to watch

Real estate investor British Land has sold a 75% stake in the bulk of its Paddiongton Central assets to GIC for £694.0m in order to establish a new joint venture between the pair.

British Land said establishment of the joint venture, which was unconditional and will take place within three months, sees it deliver against one of its key strategic priorities of proactively recycling capital out of mature assets where it has created "considerable value".

LondonMetric Property revealed on Monday that it had bought six London urban logistics warehouses in separate transactions for £26.7m, reflecting an anticipated blended initial yield of 4.3% and a reversionary yield of more than 4.5%.

The assets were expected to generate a total rent of £1.2m par annum. In a separate deal, the company sold a multi-let industrial estate for £8.5m.

Newspaper round-up

Emmanuel Macron won a resounding victory against Marine Le Pen in the presidential run-off, becoming the first French modern head of state to secure re-election while holding executive power. Macron, 44, won with 58.5% of the vote against Le Pen's 41.5% after an aggressive second-round campaign in which he cast the leader of the National Rally as a far-right threat to democracy and European security. - The Times

British Airways is setting up its maiden overseas base for short-haul flights to combat staff shortages that have sparked the worst wave of cancellations in a decade. The UK flag carrier is to open a cabin crew base in Madrid as bosses scramble to avoid the recent travel chaos lasting throughout the summer. - Telegraph

Britain's hopes of a favourable post-Brexit trade deal with the US risk being undermined by the government's lack of engagement on workers' rights, trade unions have warned. As a second round of US-UK talks begins this week, union leaders from both countries said Washington would push for a "worker-centred approach to trade" to help unlock a deal. - Guardian

A Whitehall report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street is so damning that senior officials believe it could leave Boris Johnson with no choice but to resign as prime minister, The Times has been told. The report by Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, is understood to be highly critical of Johnson both for attending some of the events and the culture in No 10 under his leadership. - The Times

Driving an electric car for a year costs almost £600 less than its petrol equivalent after fuel prices surged more than electricity costs, research by the comparison website Compare the Market has found. Electric vehicles were already cheaper to run, according to figures shared with the Guardian, but the gap has widened significantly amid turmoil in global energy markets caused by the war in Ukraine. - Guardian

Boris Johnson will launch a push for families to take up £2,000 a year in childcare support as he attempts to refocus attention on how the Government can help with the cost-of-living crisis. The Prime Minister is keen to move on from a bruising week that was dominated by the "partygate" scandal, with a number of Tory MPs publicly criticising his leadership. - Telegraph

The chairman of the Commons business select committee has urged Kwasi Kwarteng not to let Downing Street delay legislation needed to bring forward audit and corporate governance reforms. Darren Jones, a Labour MP, has written to the business secretary raising concerns about reports that the legislation has been dropped from next month’s Queen’s Speech. - The Times

The Labour party has vowed to abolish the "non-dom" tax loophole used by the chancellor Rishi Sunak’s wife to save paying up to £20.0m in UK tax. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said it "simply isn't right that those at the top can benefit from outdated non-dom tax perks" while ordinary people struggle with tax rises and the cost of living crisis. - Guardian

Two in three pharmacists are now dealing with medication shortages on a daily basis, research shows, amid growing concern about worsening access to hormone replacement therapy. Pharmacists said they were regularly facing patients "boiling over" with rage amid desperation over shortages of treatments for dozens of conditions. - Telegraph

The board of Twitter is coming under pressure to engage with Elon Musk over his mooted $43.0bn takeover bid after the Tesla founder lined up financing for a deal. Musk met key Twitter shareholders late last week and some have since indicated they expect the board to leave the door open for talks, even if his "best and final offer" of $54.20 a share may not be enough to seal a deal. The shares closed at $48.93 on Friday. - The Times

International travel should be protected in future pandemics, MPs have urged, describing the Covid restrictions imposed by the UK government as confusing, arbitrary and disproportionate. The Commons transport select committee said the government should learn lessons from the coronavirus pandemic to create a predictable and transparent system for future public health crises, to support travellers and the aviation industry. - Guardian

US close

Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Monday as market participants continued to mull over the likelihood of interest rate rises and prepped for earnings from a number of the country's major tech companies.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 2.82% lower at 33,811.40, while the S&P 500 was 2.77% softer at 4,271.78 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.55% weaker at 12,839.29.